[283] The impression which Buonaparte's presence and conversation, aided by the preconceived ideas of his talents, made on all who approached his person, was of the most striking kind. The captain of a British man-of-war, who was present at his occupying the island of Elba, disturbed on that occasion the solemnity and gravity of a levee, at which several British functionaries attended, by bearing a homely, but certainly a striking testimony to his powers of attraction, while he exclaimed, that "Boney was a d--d good fellow, after all!"--S. [284] Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 218. [285] "The Queen often called to her recollection that part of English history which states that Mary, the daughter of Henry VIII., after the taking of Calais, which had so long been an appanage to the English crown, and which had often been attempted in vain by the Duke of Guise, during her reign, and its subsequent cession to France,--was accustomed to say, 'That if her heart could be opened, the name of Calais would be found traced there in letters of blood.' The same might be said of the Queen of Prussia in regard to Magdeburg."--MAD. DE BERG. [286] Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 213. [287] The Queen of Prussia died on the 19th July, 1810. The following letter was written by her a few days after the signing of the treaty of Tilsit:--"Peace is concluded; but at how painful a price! Our frontiers will not henceforth extend beyond the Elbe: the King, however, after all, has proved himself a greater man than his adversary. He has been compelled by necessity to negotiate with his enemy, but no alliance has taken place between them. This will one day or other bring a blessing upon Prussia. Again, I say, the King's just dealing will bring good fortune to Prussia; this is my firm belief." [288] For a copy of the Treaty of Tilsit, see Annual Register, vol. xlix., p. 720. [289] "This does not appear to me to be correct: according to the terms of the treaty, this country was ceded personally to me, and my first act was to unite it to Holland. I establish this fact merely for the sake of truth."--LOUIS BUONAPARTE, p. 53. [290] Now Earl Granville. [291] "In the secret treaty, Alexander and Napoleon shared between them the continental world: all the south was abandoned to Napoleon, already master of Italy and arbiter of Germany, pushing his advanced post as far as the Vistula, and making Dantzic one of the most formidable arsenals."--FOUCHÉ, tom. i., p. 310. [292] "It was perhaps a misfortune to me that I had not married a sister of the Emperor Alexander, as proposed to me by Alexander himself at Erfurth. But there were inconveniences in that union arising from her religion. I did not like to allow a Russian priest to be the confessor of my wife, as I considered that he would have been a spy in the Tuileries for Alexander."--NAPOLEON, _Voice_, &c., vol. ii., p. 150. [293] See the treaty between Prussia and France, Annual Register, vol. xlix., p. 714. CHAPTER XXXVII.